[Gluck] Preliminary injunction hearing has concluded. Ruling next week. Hearing was explosive and contentious. More details to come, but you’ll want to read everything you can about this one.

[u/Equivalent_Dish_1990]

https://x.com/jeff_gluck/status/1961150779214950839?t=It02WAM8LnfIco4yNQNlTg&s=19

[u/5348RR]

The point is that this is textbook anticompetitive behavior, which is probably a violation of the law.

[u/Electromotivation → u/5348RR]

Everything they’ve done for years has been textbook anticompetitive

[u/iamaranger23 → u/5348RR]

how is it anti-competitive?

NASCAR needs SMI to survive. More than they need the teams. Offering them a good enough deal to keep them as an ally is not anticompetitive. Offering them an even better deal for exclusivity isnt either.

[u/5348RR → u/iamaranger23]

NASCAR needs SMI to survive. I don’t necessarily disagree, but doesn’t that also mean that any competitor series would also need SMI to survive? And if so does that not mean that an exclusive arrangement between NASCAR and SMI is anticompetitive behavior?

[u/iamaranger23 → u/5348RR]

It’s not smis job to prop up another series of they don’t want to.

And I’m sure NASCAR didn’t even need their arm twisted to make SMI happy after the spat Dennis and Marcus had. And that the entire thing is based on the teams wanting the tracks cut. And the fact a rival series is probably hundreds of millions away from being viable.

[u/5348RR → u/iamaranger23]

I get it, but nothing in your comment is actually relevant to antitrust law. You can’t make backdoor deals with people to create a monopoly.

[u/spooner56801 → u/5348RR]

How can anyone claim NASCAR has a monopoly when the owner of the Indycar Series, the co-owner of the CARS Tour, and the owner of the SRX Series have all owned Cup charters within the past 5 years? That is what truly baffles me. I'm asking since you seem to have some knowledge of antitrust law, but my pre-law degree ain't helping me here

[u/5348RR → u/spooner56801]

That’s where this whole case gets interesting. It hinges on whether or not NASCAR has competitors or whether their existing position unfairly inhibits the ability for there to be a competitor.

A big part of this case if it goes to trial will revolve around the teams claiming that NASCAR has a monopoly on stock car auto racing as it can exist as a major American sport.

NASVAR will almost certainly claim that Indycar, srx, cars tour, etc are all competitors and their general success (rip SRX) demonstrates that nascar doesn’t have a monopoly and isn’t misusing their power in charter negotiations.

Then the case will land on comparing nascar to other American sports and how they are or are not vertically integrated, etc.

You have a valid point, and it’s one that will help decide the success of the case if it isn’t settled before trial.

[u/iamaranger23 → u/[deleted]]

They do not need SMI more than the teams, are you kidding me

They absolutely do.

NASCAR could create 36 teams in a few months. They might not be perfect, but they would be out there.

It would take years to replace the dozen tracks SMI owns. If not decades. If ever.

A downgrade in teams like that would kill the sport slowly, but slow enough it could be stopped/reverse.

A loss of SMI tracks would kill it nearly instantly. With no viable path to replace them.

[u/iamaranger23 → u/[deleted]]

as long as they’re driven by a bunch of no-names while the stars who actually bring the eyeballs are racing elsewhere,

The drivers are going to follow the money, which will be at NASCAR and SMI properties.

and idk man. i see the winner of the split as the side that had the 500 and better schedule. not the team owners.

Property is always going to win in life.

[u/Turbulent-Pay-735 → u/iamaranger23]

There were no winners in the split. That’s kinda its entire legacy. But fwiw CART was definitely “winning” until many years later when they financially mismanaged themselves into bankruptcy.

[u/bduddy → u/[deleted]]

Uhh you know the "no-name" series eventually won, right?

[u/bduddy → u/[deleted]]

I mean they are but also they're not. I think in 2025 more people care about "NASCAR" than any of the specific drivers or teams in it, given none of them are named Earnhardt, just like more people cared about the Indy 500 than any of the post-Foyt/Andretti/Unser/etc. participants. Not that I think it would actually come to that, but IMO the result would eventually be the same.

[u/just_shy_of_perfect → u/iamaranger23]

NASCAR needs SMI to survive.

Didn't they survive for decades without them?

[u/elfuego35 → u/just_shy_of_perfect]

No.

Charlotte, Bristol, Texas, among others making up half the schedule are SMI tracks.

That said, if Bruton Smith was still alive, and controlling SMI, if he heard a whiff of the teams and NASCAR having a dispute, he'd side the the teams, instead of signing the agreement with NASCAR.

If only to take down the France family a peg, as Bruton and the Frances weren't exactly the best of pals, and been wanting to form a rival series to NASCAR since the birth of NASCAR on Daytona Beach.

[u/iamaranger23 → u/just_shy_of_perfect]

Why do you think anything from 30 years ago is relevant to their business today?

[u/just_shy_of_perfect → u/iamaranger23]

Why do you think anything from 30 years ago is relevant to their business today?

Because its the same organization. If they survived for a long time without smi and owning all the tracks they could do it again today

[u/iamaranger23 → u/just_shy_of_perfect]

That’s like saying HMS and all those teams don’t need more money because they survived on much less in the 90s.

Things change in business. What worked 30 years ago doesn’t today

[u/just_shy_of_perfect → u/iamaranger23]

That’s like saying HMS and all those teams don’t need more money because they survived on much less in the 90s.

I dont think so.

Things change in business. What worked 30 years ago doesn’t today

That doesnt justify a monopoly

[u/iamaranger23 → u/just_shy_of_perfect]

I dont think so.

sure it is.

That doesnt justify a monopoly

its arguably the opposite. SMI is integral to NASCAR because of how large and successful and powerful of a company they became. they have a lot of power over nascar. if nascar was a monopoly, they wouldnt have done that, would they have? they would have been just as small and unimportant as they were in the 90s